CECILE COLEMAN

Sunday

Mar 3, 2013 at 2:00 AM

August 17, 1918 - February 25, 2013

New Paltz, NY

There are so many words that could describe my mother, wonderful words that paint a picture of a truly special person. I will try to choose a few. Little Cissy Coleman, born Pearl Cecile Kaplan in 1918, was decent, caring, empathetic, insightful, exceptionally bright, always willing to try to understand others' points of view. She was much like my wonderful father, Ernest Coleman, whom she married and loved for almost 50 years until his untimely death in 1993. As parents they were unconditionally loving and accepting and I am overwhelmed with gratitude.

Cissy Coleman had a dry, wry sense of humor. Even as she marked her 94h birthday and told every one that she was "way past my expiration date", she was able to have moments of joy and give kindness to others. She didn't want to witness her own slow decline. She lived independently until she was 93, and her home was filled with books and the artwork that was a reflection of her creative, lovely soul. Her last nine months were spent at Woodland Pond, skilled nursing, where she was treated with love and kindness by the excellent staff and where she was visited daily by adoring family. She was given a good quality of life up until her last few weeks when she was kept comfortable, pain-free, and safe.

Besides friends, she will be missed every remaining day of our lives by Ginny Coleman, her daughter who is now writing this; her granddaughter, Tecia Mondello who was close to her from the moment she was born, Tecia's loving husband, Robert, and their daughter, Megan Mondello; Cissy's great-granddaughter, who was the greatest joy of her life. She had become close and important to Charlie Rovner, relatively new to our family, who visited often with her and made sure she got to experience being high over the sparkling river with fresh air caressing her face as she traveled the full length of the amazing Walkway Over The Hudson, albeit by wheelchair, a true thrill for her. She is also survived by her son, Bill Coleman who lives in Nevada and did not get to see her as often as he would have wished but spoke with her almost daily by phone; and by her two nephews, Danny and Richard Green and their wives, sons of her sister, Ethel whom she loved dearly, who was her best friend, and who also died years too soon.

For most of her life, my mother had a real Jewish identity but was devoutly agnostic. But in the past few years, since the very premature and unexpected death of her beloved son-in-law, my adored husband, Steven Levinsky, we have all had experiences that have stretched our beliefs. We all love the thought of her still here somehow, up there or out there, keeping a loving eye on us and this crazy world. We all say that she lives on in our hearts and we will feel her presence every day we live and breathe.